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What It Takes In Disaster Recovery Planning

By Judy Sullivan


It is normal for business or activities of an organization to be interrupted by events which is some cases may be unforeseen. In anticipation of this, most of organizations usually put in place measures to minimize losses in case such event occurs. Coming up with measures that outline steps to be followed in an event of a disaster are called disaster recovery planning (DRP).

Given that the plan is developed to protect an organization from total collapse in case of any unfortunate event, whether man-made or natural, it must be tested and certified before being adopted. In most of the occasions, the outcome of the planning process in normally documented into a formal manner and all employees directed on their roles as outlined in the document. The primary objective is to be caught prepared, orderly recovery and general organization stability.

Other benefits of the outcome of this process include the general sense of security, minimal delay risks, the reliability of standby systems is guaranteed, reduced decision making during disasters and provision of a standard of testing. In addition to this, firms with comprehensive and functional disaster recovery plans (DRP) enjoy discounts on insurance premiums.

The disaster recovery planning process starts from a decision by the top level management. A proposal is drawn, presented and approved by the board of directors and top level managers. After this, a committee is formed to take charge of the process. The membership of this committee should cut across all functional departments in the organization with the chief members being the director of operations and the data processing manager.

A typical DRP involves several stages. It starts from understanding of the interconnections of all organization resources and activities followed by assessment of its vulnerability areas. After getting the insight on how organization can get affected in case of a disaster, a short term plan is developed. This will assist in developing a longer term recovery plan, prioritizing all areas of vulnerability. The planning is continuously tested and updated to respond to changing needs of the business.

After establishing the impacts and consequences that can result from the worst case scenario, the areas to be prioritized are then determined. All the operations and processes are analyzed to determine for how long they can run with critical system. The recovery strategies are them determined and evaluated for their effectiveness. This covers all aspects of the organization, with written specific alternatives and backup systems.

Other than returning a firm to its normal level of operation in the shortest duration possible after occurrence a calamity, whether man made or natural, disaster recovery plans comes with several other benefits such as a sense of security, minimal delay risks, availing standards for testing plans, minimizing decision making needs in a chaotic situation among others.

A disaster recovery planning goes beyond off-site storage or even backup processing. Well documented and very comprehensive DRP should able to address all critical aspects must be developed. This, just like liability insurance will provide some level of comfort and reduce the level of financial loss. Other than this, the probability of occurrence of adversity is also minimized.




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